Contents

History

Prelude (1970-1995)

The First Wizarding War was fought for approximately eleven years, from 1970 to 1981. It included Lord Voldemort's rise to power, the induction of the Death Eaters, and the mass chaos that resulted in his reign of terror.

There was much speculation afterward concerning Voldemort's survival. Only Albus Dumbledore had any confirmation he was in Albania. However, some, including Rubeus Hagrid, believed he was still alive, as he "wasn't human enough to die."[32] As Dumbledore strongly suspected that the worst was not over, Harry Potter was taken into the care of his Muggle relatives, the Dursleys.[32] Dumbledore placed a protective charm on their home which would break on either:

Attempted theft of the Philosopher's Stone

Second opening of the Chamber of Secrets

Before his first downfall, Voldemort had split his soul into six fragments which he embedded into Horcruxes. He did this out of his terror and paranoia of death.[2][33] One such Horcrux was Tom Riddle's diary, which Voldemort, through his servant Lucius Malfoy (who was ignorant of the diary's true form, not recognising it as a Horcrux, but thinking it was some obscure Dark object his master had created), tried to use to regain a physical form in 1992.[34]

Harry slayed the massive 60 foot serpent with Gryffindor's Sword that he acquired from the Sorting Hat. After slaying the serpent he unknowingly destroyed the Horcrux with a fang from Salazar Slytherin's basilisk.[34] The basilisk venom destroyed the diary completely, putting it beyond the realm of magical repair. Harry was bitten by the basilisk in the process and was an inch from death. Fawkes' tears healed his wound and saved his life. This also led to Dumbledore having some proof of his belief that Voldemort had Horcruxes though not fully certain of how many.[33]

Servant returns to the master

"The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master."

In 1994, Ron's pet grey rat, Scabbers, was revealed to be Peter Pettigrew. Though thought to be dead (he was believed to be murdered by Sirius Black) he was in hiding, due to the fact he was now a Death Eater and an accomplice. He had been hiding in his Animagus form of a grey rat named Wormtail since shortly after betraying the Lily and James Potter to their deaths on 31 October, 1981.[35] He spent 12 years with the Weasley family, as their pet.

Peter Pettigrew and Lord Voldemort making the plot to return the latter to his body

Pettigrew's disguise was discovered by the part-KneazleCrookshanks, Sirius Black, who had escaped from Azkaban in the Animagus form of a black dog named Padfoot, and Remus Lupin. Though not from lack of trying, Harry Potter failed to successfully turn Peter Pettigrew over to the Ministry of Magic, and Pettigrew escaped to return to service to Voldemort, though he later regretted it, where he made two complicated dark potions, one of which was the Regeneration potion, to return Voldemort to a body.[1][35]

Barty Crouch Snr, head of the Department of Magical Cooperation at the Ministry, was murdered by his son Barty Crouch, Jr in May of 1995.[38] Barty had been previously incarcerated in Azkaban for the crime of taking part in the capture and, by means of the Cruciatus Curse, torture of the aforementioned Longbottoms.[39] Later, his father smuggled him out of prison to fulfil the dying wish of Mrs Crouch.

On the same night, Cedric Diggory was murdered by Peter Pettigrew, who used the Killing Curse on Voldemort's orders, with Voldemort's yew wand.[12] Through a spell and potion, Voldemort regained his physical form, though under developed, and attempted to duel Harry Potter. He failed, as the "echoes" of his previous victims, including James and Lily Potter, Cedric Diggory, Bertha Jorkins, and Frank Bryce came to the scene at the accidental summoning of Priori Incantatem. They held back Voldemort's spell's power, allowing Harry to escape using the Triwizard Cup as a portkey back to Hogwarts.[41]

A Daily Prophet article showing the Ministry trying to slander Harry Potter and anyone who believed him

Shortly after Harry emerged from the maze claiming Voldemort had returned, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, refused to believe it, as it might compromise his position as Minister. Instead of working with Dumbledore to prepare the wizarding world for battle and try to stop the Death Eaters, Cornelius Fudge launched a campaign to slander and discredit both Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore, as Fudge was paranoid that Dumbledore was after his job. Fudge used his influence at the Daily Prophet to convince the wizarding public that Dumbledore and Harry were crazy, attention-seeking liars and that everything was going well in the world.

The Daily Prophet against Dumbledore

The Ministry appointed Dolores Umbridge to Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, and soon she became Hogwarts High Inquisitor, giving her enormous power over the students and the teachers and enforcing the Ministry's agenda at Hogwarts. Harry was further alienated by students and friends, such as Seamus Finnigan, and even his friend Ron's brother Percy Weasley, who wrote Ron a letter saying that Ron should distance himself from Harry. Umbridge also punished Harry with sadistic, torture-like detentions for telling the truth by making him write "I must not tell lies" with a Black Quill.

However, Harry found strength from within by forming a secret organisation with his friends called Dumbledore's Army to prepare themselves for the war that would soon follow. As Dumbledore's Army trained, disappearances continued to occur as Voldemort gained power, while the Ministry turned a blind eye to it. The Dementors guarding Azkaban started to move their authority to Voldemort and a large break-out occurred, including the release of notoriously sadistic Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. Dumbledore was forced to flee the school when Dumbledore's Army was discovered and he took the blame for it, and Umbridge was appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts, though she did not get much help from the other teachers stopping the chaos that the students caused to disrupt her tyrannical regime.

Hagrid's and Madame Maxime's Giant Colony mission for the Order of the Phoenix

The Death Eaters took full advantage of the Ministry's denial and kept a low profile, rebuilding their forces quietly and secretly. They managed to recruit both Dementors and Giants because the Ministry refused to take the suggested actions, and successfully engineered the Azkaban breakout because of this. Consistent with the denial, Fudge suggested the breakout and disappearances were the work of Sirius Black, much to the contrary. The only resistance the Death Eaters met with, at the time, was the Order of the Phoenix, which was suppressed by the Ministry's propaganda and threat of dismissal, thus furthering Voldemort's freedom of action. Falsely-reformed Death Eaters such as Lucius Malfoy and Walden Macnair remained in the Ministry's trust, subtly sabotaging the government's efficiency and gathering information on them. While Harry and several Order members suggested that Fudge was under the Imperius Curse, Dumbledore believed otherwise, which was not a lot of comfort.

Despite the Ministry's propaganda and corrupt political procedures suppressing the truth, which affected many citizens' opinions, there are many who chose to believe Dumbledore and Harry instead, such as the Longbottom family and Ernest Macmillan. When Harry provided an interview of the truth via The Quibbler, it riled many more people to support him, such as Seamus Finnigan.

The D.A. students quickly distracted the Death Eaters, scattering throughout the Department of Mysteries, and frequently encountering and duelling with the dark wizards. Neville had his face kicked and as a result could not perform spells;[3] Hermione, Luna, Ron, and Ginny were all incapacitated, as well as numerous Death Eaters, but there were no fatalities until five members from the Order of the Phoenix — Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, and Alastor Moody — arrived. They battled the Death Eaters before Bellatrix Lestrange suddenly blasted Sirius Black with her wand, causing him to fall and disappear through a mysterious veil, killing him instantly.[3]

Soon afterwards, Albus Dumbledore appeared and captured (through the use of an Anti-Disapparition Jinx) all the Death Eaters except Bellatrix, who ran out of the chamber chased by Harry Potter, and for the first time in his life Harry used an unforgivable curse and cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix. However the curse was too weak, because Harry was angry at Bellatrix for murdering Sirius, rather than wanting to purely cause Bellatrix pain, and so gave Bellatrix only a small amount of pain. The two proceeded to exchange spells in the Atrium.

Searching for Harry and Bellatrix. Dumbledore then came across Lord Voldemort himself. The two engaged in a duel of epic proportions which left the Fountain of Magical Brethren in ruins.[3] Realising he could not beat Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort attempted to possess Harry in the hope that Dumbledore would sacrifice Harry in order to kill Voldemort. When an army of Aurors arrived, Voldemort hastily fled, thus ending the battle and causing Fudge to finally believe Dumbledore and Harry's claims about the Dark Lord's return.[3]

During this time, Voldemort also gathered the strengths of the Giants,[4]Dementors,[4] and Werewolves[4] to his cause. Because of the Ministry's denial, Voldemort' was able to rebuild his forces unhindered, which led the Ministry to fall far too back behind by the time they finally accepted the truth. Voldemort also set a plan in motion to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the resistance against him, striking a crippling blow against the wizarding world's morale as well as removing Harry Potter's strongest defender and mentor.

Unfortunately for the Ministry, even with the consequences of Fudge's denial as an example, it did little to change their preference of reputation over true security; Fudge attempted to request Harry to lie to the public how the Ministry was doing a great job in their defence against the Death Eaters, which would have led to more false sense of safety that would endanger them. Although Harry refused, Minister Scrimgeour attempted to do the same and also created many cover ups such as Azkaban breakouts and arresting random suspects to make it look like progress.

Harry found the pamphlet distributed by the Ministry to be not so helpful in regards to basic defensive strategies against the Death Eaters. This campaign of corruption and false security would cause the Ministry's defence to drop further, as Death Eaters were able to place Imperius Curses onto high-ranking officials, who in turn would take control of others, leading to a network of powerful conspirators, and eventually, the Ministry would pay for its folly in 1997.

Battle of the Astronomy Tower

"The lightning-struck tower. Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time..."

At the close of the Hogwarts school year in June 1997, Albus Dumbledore was slain by Severus Snape's Killing Curse in the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower.[18] He had been previously sickened to the brink of exhaustion by the Drink of Despair. After convincing Draco Malfoy to forgo his plans to murder him, Severus Snape and four other Death Eaters came to the scene. Snape took over the task of killing Dumbledore.

Albus Dumbledore's body falling from the Astronomy Tower after his death

The Death Eaters were forced to retreat once their task was accomplished. They were pursued by Harry, who duelled with Snape but was unable to prevent the Death Eaters' escape.[43] Much of the luck of the Hogwarts' defenders can be attributed to Felix Felicis, liquid luck, which was used by the students who were present.[44] Now that Voldemort was finally rid of Dumbledore, the only wizard he ever was afraid of, he could turn his attention to toppling the Ministry and finally murdering Harry Potter.

All others safely arrived at the Burrow, with only George Weasley sustaining a great injury with his ear which was accidentally caused by Severus Snape's Sectumsempra curse.[21] Harry, however, was devastated by the death of his loyal pet owl.[21]

Upstairs, Bathilda asked if he was Harry Potter; he was not aware that she asked this in Parseltongue. When he confirmed that he was, he felt his scar burn — Bathilda had in fact been dead for some time, and Nagini was in her animated corpse.[24] She signalled Voldemort and then attacked Harry, biting and coiling herself around him. Hermione came running upstairs and tried to curse the snake while Harry felt Voldemort approaching. Hermione repelled Nagini from Harry using a Blasting Curse that also ended up breaking Harry's wand. Both jumped out of the window and Disapparated just as Voldemort arrived. Hermione managed to heal Harry's bite, but they had to share her wand until Ron Weasley returned to them, with a spare wand taken from Snatchers.[53]

In spite of Harry Potter's scepticism, the trio went to the Lovegood House. There, Xenophilius told them about the legend of the Deathly Hallows. They began to grow suspicious, however, when they saw a copy of The Quibbler that was no longer supportive of Harry and the Order of the Phoenix,[54] and when they deduced that Luna Lovegood had not been home for a long time. Xenophilius admitted that Death Eaters had taken her hostage against his good behaviour, and that he had alerted them to Harry's presence in his home.[54] He tried to hold them there, but ended up causing the erumpent horn in his living room to explode. The trio hid as Selwyn and Travers arrived and started to beat and torture Xenophilius,[54] thinking he had been lying to them. Hermione then engineered their escape so that the Death Eaters caught a glimpse of her and Harry but not of Ron, who was supposed to be home with spattergroit. That way, Ron's alibi was preserved and the Death Eaters would not punish Xenophilius or Luna.[25]

Ollivander and Luna are saved from Malfoy Manor by Dobby the House-Elf

Opting to take Harry directly to Voldemort for the large reward, they Apparated to his headquarters at Malfoy Manor. Though Voldemort was elsewhere, the Malfoy family,[26]Bellatrix Lestrange,[26] and Peter Pettigrew[26] were present. Bellatrix stunned the Snatchers for their "lack of respect" towards her and ordered Draco Malfoy to take all the hostages to the basement. Once in the basement Harry and Ron met with Luna Lovegood and Garrick Ollivander. Bellatrix kept Hermione upstairs and brutally tortured her with the Cruciatus Curse for information on how they were able to get Godric Gryffindor's Sword and at one point threatened to run her through with a dagger. In spite of her great suffering, Hermione was able to concoct a bogus story, claiming the sword was a fake.[26] Harry overhearing Hermione say the sword was a fake convined Griphook to back up her claim.

Dobby the house-elf was sent to Harry's aid from Aberforth Dumbledore.[55] Harry requested that he evacuate Dean, Ollivander, and Luna using the elf's special brand of Apparition magic. Dean and Luna were both reluctant to leave Harry and protested. The noise was overheard in the house above, and Peter Pettigrew was sent to investigate. He was ambushed in the basement when Harry and Ron took his wand and briefly battled him hand-to-hand.[26] However, when Harry reminded Pettigrew that he had saved his life, Pettigrew hesitated to murder Harry and, despite of Harry's and Ron's efforts to stop it, Pettigrew's Voldemort-made silver hand turned against him and strangled him to death for the tiny, merciful impulse that Wormtail felt.[26]

Dobby dies in Harry's arms

The two boys then stormed the room where Bellatrix was holding Hermione. When Dobby reappeared, the group — Harry, Ron, Hermione, Griphook, and Dobby — disapparated to the cottage of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. It was only then that they discovered Bellatrix had thrown a blade and stabbed Dobby, who died soon afterwards. Dobby was buried in the garden of Shell Cottage with the epitaph of "Here lies Dobby, A Free Elf."[27]

While staying at Shell Cottage, Harry, Ron, and Hermione planned to break into Gringotts Wizarding Bank in order to steal an item from the Lestrange vault, as they suspected from Bellatrix’s earlier panic that it was one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.[27] Using hair that had fallen onto Hermione's sweater when Bellatrix was holding her at Malfoy Manor, the trio brewed Polyjuice Potion so that Hermione could disguise herself as the Death Eater. She then transfigured various aspects of Ron's appearance and he took on the alias of "Dragomir Despard",[56] a foreign wizard. Harry and Griphook followed under the Invisibility Cloak.

Battle of Hogwarts

"I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."

After learning his Horcruxes were being systematically hunted and destroyed, Lord Voldemort warned the Carrows that Harry might go to the Ravenclaw tower and ordered a massive attack on Hogwarts Castle, where his Horcrux was hidden as Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. Harry, Ron, and Hermione went into the Room of Requirement, followed close behind by Vincent Crabbe, Draco Malfoy, and Gregory Goyle. Crabbe set off Fiendfyre, burning everything until Harry, Ron, and Hermione rescued Draco and Goyle and flew from the Room on broomsticks. Crabbe was unable to escape and perished.[7]

Hogwarts fortified itself for the attack. Voldemort demanded that Hogwarts hand over Harry Potter but, despite his threats, they remained in support of Harry and refused.[7] Eventually, having been convinced to hand himself over by Snape's memories,[28] Harry surrendered himself to Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, convinced that his death would destroy Voldemort as well, for a piece of Voldemort's soul attached itself to Harry's soul when the Killing Curse backfired, turning Harry into an accidental Horcrux.

Voldemort hitting Harry with the Killing Curse

Voldemort's use of the Killing Curse on Harry merely sent Harry's soul into a Limbo where he had a brief conversation with Dumbledore before reawakening in the forest.[11][58] To maintain his safety, Potter feigned his death. Ordered by Voldemort to confirm Harry's demise, Narcissa Malfoy discovered that Potter was in fact alive, but kept it secret in exchange for information from Harry concerning the welfare of her child Draco[11] (she and Lucius no longer cared who won, they just cared whether or not Draco was alive and well). Rubeus Hagrid was forced to carry Harry back to the Castle, where the Hogwarts community believed he had been murdered and Voldemort claimed that he had been caught trying to escape and save himself. In the ensuing commotion, Harry concealed himself with the Invisibility Cloak, and witnessed Neville beheading Nagini, Voldemort's last remaining Horcrux.[11]

Voldemort gloating over Harry's 'death', Neville slays Nagini, and the second half of the battle breaks out

Voldemort's Last Stand

Harry's final defeat of Lord Voldemort and the end of the Second Wizarding War

The crowd retreated and watched then as the two great enemies, Voldemort and Harry Potter, bantered and circled each other. Harry dared Voldemort to feel remorse,[11] to which Voldemort responded by shooting a Killing Curse from the Elder Wand. Harry simultaneously fired his own signature spell, the Expelliarmus, using Draco Malfoy's wand. However, because the Elder Wand rightfully belonged to Harry, the Killing Curse rebounded and ended Voldemort's life once and for all, restoring peace to the wizarding world. Harry then, shortly after, used the Elder Wand to repair his own broken wand, and then placed it back in Dumbledore's tomb, hoping the wand's power would die with him.[11]

Aftermath (Post 1998)

After the defeat of Voldemort, twenty or more Death Eaters were killed. The rest were imprisoned, with the exception of the Malfoys. Approximately fifty-five defenders of Hogwarts were murdered in the final battle.[11]Kingsley Shacklebolt was named interim Minister for Magic, and later took the position on permanently. Minerva McGonagall became headmistress of Hogwarts. Celebrations were held in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

Battle of Hogwarts NOTE: Lavender only died (or appeared to die) in the movie "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two." In the book, Hermione blasts Greyback away from Lavender's "feebly stirring" body, after which Professor Trelawney knocks Greyback out with a crystal ball. Later, Harry does not see Lavender among the dead laid in the Great Hall. There is no reason to believe that Lavender died in the book.

Hermione's Stunning Spell sends Fenrir Greyback off the Viaduct Courtyard to the ravine below and to his death after he was discovered mauling Lavender Brown. As this contradicts the events of the novel, it cannot be considered canon to the book (in which she does blast him away from Lavender but clearly not off a cliff, as he turns up again in the final part of the battle).

Scabior led the Snatchers into the Wooden Bridge, where he briefly duelled Neville Longbottom before the latter cast a spell making the bridge collapse, Scabior attempted to get to safety, but inevitably fell to his death into the chasm below.

Pius Thicknesse is ruthlessly killed by Voldemort in frustration after he interrupts his concentration with an unwanted interjection.